This invention relates to a heat recovery arrangement used with a residential air conditioning system to heat the water for a swimming pool, spa, water heater or other water fixture by heat transfer from the hot refrigerant at the outlet side of the usual compressor of the air conditioning system.
Various arrangements have been proposed heretofore for heating the water of a swimming pool, spa, water heater or other water fixture in a coaxial refrigerant-to-water heat exchanger connected to the outlet of the compressor of an air conditioning system. Examples of such arrangements are disclosed in the following U.S. patents: Davies U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,123, Jonsson U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,955, Langford U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,594, Holmes U.S. Pat. 5,560,216, Yarborough et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,563, Schwartz et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,104, and Savtchenko U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,125.
Also, Langford U.S. No. Pat. 4,658,594 discloses a combined air conditioning and pool heater system in which recirculated pool water is heated by air drawn across an electric heater by the A/C system""s evaporator fan.
The present invention is directed to a novel and simplified arrangement of a refrigerant-to-water heat exchanger connected to a residential air conditioning system to use the hot refrigerant coming from the A/C system""s compressor to heat the water for a swimming pool, spa, water heater or other water fixture at the residence.
The heat exchanger in the present invention comprises a water tank with water inlet and outlets that may be readily connected in the water recirculation loop of swimming pool or spa, and a condenser coil of the type used in residential air conditioning systems in heat transfer relationship to the water in the tank. This condenser coil has a refrigerant inlet and a refrigerant outlet that may be readily connected to the air conditioning system at the outlet side of its compressor.
With this simplified arrangement, no great expertise is required to make the water connections and the refrigerant connections of the refrigerant-to-water heat exchanger without significant change to the air conditioning system or the water recirculation system which this heat exchanger serves.